Pandas Volleyball Club welcomes Japanese team from earthquake-battered region

Kikuchi Kenji’s words could only be understood once translated from Japanese, but the volleyball coach’s expression and inflection told the story before the interpreter had to.

His teenage pupils didn’t need to speak a word of English, either. The passion and joy they exhibited on the court said all you needed to know.

Last week at the Saville Community Sports Centre, the Aizu Gakuho high school volleyball team played a special exhibition match against the Pandas Volleyball Club 18U Gambatte team. The visitors won 3-1, but the score didn’t matter much.

After everything the players and coaches have been through, it’s a minor feat Aizu Gakuho has a volleyball team period, much less one that is so clearly skilled. And it’s even more remarkable they are able to travel across the world to share their love of the sport, a language that is universal.

“We’re just really happy to be able to come out and play volleyball,” Kikuchi Kenji said through an interpreter. “There were times when it was really hard, so we’re really happy to be able to play the sport we love.”

Aizu Gakuho is located in Fukushima, the Japanese prefrecture (state) that was devastated by the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami just over two years ago.

On March 11, 2011, a 9.03 magnitude earthquake, the most powerful to ever hit Japan, triggered a mammoth tsunami, with waves as high as 40.5 metres that traveled as far as 10km inland.

“When the first earthquake happened, we didn’t know what was going on, we were scared, we were terrified,” Kikuchi Kenji said.

The earthquake and tsunami killed 15,000 people. It also caused one of history’s largest nuclear disasters, with a series of equipment failures, nuclear meltdowns and releases of radioactive materials at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.

Some of the Aizu Gakuho players were in the area that was affected by the tsunami, leaving the team unable to practice for some time. One player, in fact, is still not yet living back home.

“It was a bit of a rebuilding time,” Kikuchi Kenji said. “We had to work together in the Fukushima area to help everyone out.”

Part of the rebuilding for Aizu Gakuho volleyball team was their first visit to Canada last week. The Pandas counterparts welcome them with open arms, and the two teams had opportunity to bond while bussing together to a weekend tournament in Calgary.

The University of Alberta Pandas women’s volleyball team has a tradition dating back two decades of traveling to Japan and hosting teams from that country, but this was the first time the Pandas Volleyball Club has been able to partake in such a cultural exchange. “The benefits to our athletes are massive,” said Laurie Eisler, president of the Pandas Volleyball Club and head coach of the University of Alberta women’s volleyball team. “Not only do they learn a lot about volleyball, they see … the culture.

“It’s pretty neat when our young people get to meet their young people.”